Because don’t all “freedom fighters” blow themselves up on buses packed with civilians?
(IPT) — Hamas has “done a lot of good” in Palestine, students at a University of California, Irvine program were told last week.
At a speech sponsored by the Muslim Student Union called “What Israeli Going On,” Amir Mertaban repeatedly refused to answer when audience members asked if he condemned the terrorist group which now controls Gaza. He called it “a loaded question.” Instead, he praised the group’s social and political program while rationalizing the issue of its violence.
“Any unjust killing of Israeli civilians I absolutely abhor and Islam does not allow,” he said. “However, Hamas has also done a lot of freedom fighting missions for that matter. And I am absolutely one who defends anyone’s right, whether you be American, whether you be Jewish, Israeli, Palestinian, to defend your rights. If you feel that you’ve been attacked wrongfully, and you defend you rights, I will never call you a terrorist.”
Mertaban is a former president of the Muslim Students Association (MSA) West and chair of a Southern California program for WhyIslam, an Islamic Circle of North America program dedicated to da’wah, or proselytizing.
Side note: The speaker’s group, “WhyIslam.org” is featured on a PSA currently being run on cable TV on channels such as MSNBC, CNN, A&E, NatGeo among many others, so he’s about as mainstream as it gets.
The ad is part of the network’s “Characters Unite” campaign against bigotry. According to an ICNA statement, the group teamed up with the network to show the ad on 130 times on USA and other networks including A&E, AMC, Animal Planet, CNN, Planet Green, Hallmark, History, Headlines Network, MSNBC, National Geographic, Oprah Winfrey Network, Travel Channel and the Weather Channel.